The present invention relates generally to cooking utensils and, more particularly, to a cooking surface-type utensil for use on barbecue-type devices which include bowls for containing a heating medium.
A group cookout activity has become popular and has been commonly called a "Mongolian cookout". This activity involves the provision of a buffet of uncooked items such as a variety of uncooked meats and a variety of complementary uncooked vegetables or the like. One or more relatively large barbeque-type devices are provided with relatively large cooking surface units. Participants or guests pass through the buffet to serve themselves with their selected meat(s) and vegetables or the like and place the selected uncooked items into their own individual plates or containers. The selected uncooked items then are taken to the relatively large barbeque devices and are cooked on the surface units for eating purposes. This can be done outdoors or indoors with proper facilities provided.
With large cooking units, the individuality of this activity often is lost because it is too similar to the cooking scheme used in various eating establishments utilizing large surface cooking units.
Attempts have been made to carry this scheme into an outdoor environment by utilizing a number of smaller barbeque-type cooking devices which include a kettle or bowl containing a heating medium, such as charcoal briquettes or gas. Smaller cooking plates or pans are used by the guests to select their uncooked items and the plates or pans simply are placed on top of the grid or grate of the barbeque devices.
Various problems have been encountered with the latter scheme due to the lack of a provision for complementing the cooking surface plate or pan with the barbeque device itself. For instance, the grid or grate of a barbeque device often is not level and placing a flat surface unit directly on top of the grid causes instability and the food items often fall into the bowl of the barbeque device. If larger surface cooking units are used with the barbeque device, there often is insufficient air circulation and the charcoal or gas is smothered. Further problems are encountered during manipulation or turning of the food items which often results in the items falling into the barbeque bowl.
It also would be desirable to have a cooking unit for use in the scheme described above in which a particular cooking surface utensil could be divided into distinct sections and used as a common utensil simultaneously by a plurality of guests to enhance the activities' camaraderie.
The present invention is directed to providing a cooking utensil for use in a group cookout activity of the character described and which solves many of the problems previously encountered, as described above, and to fulfill a definite need.